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Who knew that all this time Ohio used the regular season as a warm-up act? The Bobcats' time to shine is March.
The MAC Tournament champion Bobcats, who had a losing record in conference play, have found their way in the only month that matters and now boast an NCAA Tournament win for the first time in 27 years.
Associated Press
Ohio's D.J. Cooper, Armon Bassett celebrate win over Hoyas.
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Georgetown might want to skip the tourney next time it's in Providence.
Armon Bassett scored 32 points to lead the 14th-seeded Bobcats to a convincing 97-83 win over the Hoyas in the Midwest Regional last night in Rhode Island.
"We may not be a better team, just got to be a better team on a given night," Bassett said.
In early March, no one expected Ohio (22-14) to be in this position. The team had just finished a 7-9 season in Mid-American Conference play and entered the conference tourney as the ninth seed.
Four wins later, Ohio was in the 65-team field. Forty minutes later, the Bobcats are in the second round.
Coach John Groce wouldn't call it the biggest win in team history.
"I certainly think it's one of them," he said. "What it does more than anything is, I think it gives tremendous belief with our guys in what we're doing, in our system."
Ohio seized the lead early on its three-point shooting and never had a serious letdown the rest of the way. The Hoyas (23-11) made a small run in the second half that cut a 19-point lead down to seven.
No worries. D.J. Cooper, who scored 23 points, made a 3 to the delight of all those green-clad fans who made the trip and cheered them on the whole way. The Bobcats cruised from there and have won six straight games.
"There were some times where the only people that really believed in what we were doing and where we were headed were the guys in our locker room and our administration," Groce said.
Chris Wright led the third-seeded Hoyas (23-11) with 28 points. Georgetown coach John Thompson III said a day earlier his team was playing their best basketball of the season. It certainly didn't extend into the tournament opener.
In another game in Providence:
* TENNESSEE, 62, SAN DIEGO STATE, 59: Melvin Goins made his fourth three-pointer with 19 seconds left after San Diego State cut the deficit to one point, and Tennessee held off the Aztecs. Goins and J.P. Prince scored 15 points apiece for Tennessee (26-8) on coach Bruce Pearl's 50th birthday. D.J. Gay had 16 points for No. 11 seed San Diego State (25-9).
In Oklahoma City:
* NORTHERN IOWA, 69, UNLV 66: Ali Farokhmanesh hit a three-pointer from the left wing with 4.9 seconds left to lift ninth-seeded Northern Iowa over No. 8 UNLV. The Runnin' Rebels (25-9) got one last chance to tie it, but Tre'Von Willis didn't get his three-pointer off before the final buzzer and it was off-target anyway.
* KANSAS, 90, LEHIGH 74: Marcus Morris scored 26 points, Sherron Collins added 18 and No. 1 overall seed Kansas survived a scrappy Lehigh. Kansas (33-2) fell into its seasonlong pattern of playing in spurts, giving No. 16 seed Lehigh (22-11) hope of making college basketball history.
